Cat Power is back with a new album that shines

Coming-of-age stories about artists, especially female artists, often center on how someone "found her voice." Chan Marshall has been performing under the name Cat Power for more than half her life, and her voice has always been her most powerful asset; she never lost it and never had to find it. A soft-edged, smoky alto with a Georgia accent, it's both the surface and the skeleton of the indie rocker's album Sun (out Sept. 4). It's layered deep on every track, as melody, harmony, texture and sometimes even rhythm.

At 40, Marshall--whose biggest mainstream impact has been with her mournful, stripped-down...